The Fishing Thread (1 Viewer)

[JohnVee]

Today's theme was "Tiny or alllllmost big enough to keep". Look up cowfish if you have some time and want to learn about an interesting creature. 25mph constant winds today. Tomorrow should be about the same except for the 5 days of rain that should be starting. I'll use the downtime to find a headboat for next week and hopefully make friends with a local boat-owner/fisherman at a nearby bar.

Hogfish.

Snapper of some sort.

Scrawled cowfish.

Yellow snapper.

Snapper of some sort.

 

[southerncruiser62]

Well...

 

[JohnVee]

Well...

View attachment 2487596

Oh, hell yeah! Unless I stop catching bait.

 

[southerncruiser62]

Fished Friday and today in about 12 spots around ICW and harbor with our friends at Redfin! Today wind kicked up pretty good so created a good bit of murky water and less than favorable swales.

 

[S4Cruiser]

@southerncruiser62 - nice fish and shirt! Some days I wish i wish I still worked there! Tyler is a cool dude.

 

[NCFJ]

Today's theme was "Tiny or alllllmost big enough to keep". Look up cowfish if you have some time and want to learn about an interesting creature. 25mph constant winds today. Tomorrow should be about the same except for the 5 days of rain that should be starting. I'll use the downtime to find a headboat for next week and hopefully make friends with a local boat-owner/fisherman at a nearby bar.

Hogfish.
View attachment 2486852

Snapper of some sort.
View attachment 2486854

Scrawled cowfish.
View attachment 2486855

Yellow snapper.
View attachment 2486856

Snapper of some sort.
View attachment 2486858

John, Hogfish is by far the best fish I have ever eaten. Generally only the small ones will bite at a lure. They are harvested mostly by spearfishing. I ate a lot of Hogfish when I lived in the Keys. They would "hide" in fan coral all the time and relatively easy to spear. I just looked it up, bag limit is down to one per harvester per day, it was 6 when I lived there. 16" to the fork.

 

[uzj100]

Headed to Hatteras next week if anyone is going to be down there. Staying all week. Surf fishing time.

 

[cruiser4life]

Headed to Hatteras next week if anyone is going to be down there. Staying all week. Surf fishing time.

Was just there for a stretch. Big drum bite is heating up nicely.

 

[uzj100]

@cruiser4life awesome. I can not wait.

 

[JohnVee]

After an hour on the bridge catching grunts and yellow snapper yesterday afternoon, I figured I'd put a grunt head on the heavy rod (9', 17b mono) I had brought but wasn't using. The guy next to me pulled up a 3' shark around the time I was doing that and said he normally gets grouper and black drum in the same spot, so I had high hopes. Plus, he had a chum bag out that seemed to be working its magic.

An hour and a half later I was packing up to beat the storm that was rolling in. The heavy rod was the last thing left to pack. As I was walking to it the damn thing starting moving across and up the railing. Fish on! I can't tell what it is, only that it's big, doesn't want to come up, and is stripping drag. It turned into the current and went under the bridge. My neighbor ran to the other side and yelled out "Damn! Turn it, turn it! It's huge!". He didn't say what it was but I had grouper in my mind. I managed to get it turned and back on my side of the bridge after a couple minutes, then I saw it...Nurse Shark. Five to six feet in length. Probably 100-130lbs as per the folks that had gathered to watch.

With no reason to attempt hoisting this thing up using my neighbor's pier net basket we took some pics before I ceremoniously cut the line and let it swim off. Yes, I said "ceremoniously" because I said a few words and thanked my neighbor in front of the onlookers - after all, it was the largest fish I've ever caught, by a mile when considering weight. Then we all grabbed our stuff and made a beeline for the parking lot, getting to our cars just before all hell broke loose. I'll tell ya, the celebratory bourbon tasted great last night!

 

[JohnVee]

Sarah and I went out on a party boat (head boat, for you old timers) yesterday out of Islamorada, the "Sportfishing Capital of the World". The proximity of the reefs and wrecks to the dock was great; we only spent about 30 minutes puttering to the first site and spent maybe 10 minutes heading to each consecutive site. That made for a lot of fishing time over 7 hour day. We used the Miss Islamorada. There were about 18-20 passengers and 5 crew, counting the captain. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people than we got on this trip. The boat limited out on Yellowtail Snapper at about the 2/3-day mark so lots and lots were getting released. Tons of White Grunts were being caught in sizes that blew away anything I had caught from land previously. King mackerel, Bonita, various Grouper, Red Snapper, Porgies, various other reef fish in bright colors, and 3 or 4 things I'm forgetting were caught. Sarah even got a 2.5" shark. The catching was constant enough that we had to just stop fishing every now and then so we could get a break for rest or food or water. I'm actually pretty sore today.

Yesterday (Nov 13) was the first day the boat had been able to run since 10/30, due to the winds generated by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Eta. The weather was around 80*F, split between cloudy and sunny, and had winds under 5mph max. Today is similar and I hope to have the energy to FINALLY get the kayaks launched at John Pennekamp State Park to explore the sound and the mangrove-lined canals.

Here's what you get when you don't bring your own gear. No telling how many thousands of fish these things have each caught over the years. Classic reel.

This was the pile of keepers for the day. It's safe to say that 3-4 times this amount went back to water.

 

[NCFJ]

Damn John, you are making me home sick for the Keys. I have a couple brand new Senator Reels on nice rods I have since I lived in the Keys. I bought them from a guy that was moving and never used them. Let me know if you are interested.

 

[uzj100]

Day 1. Heading out.

 

[uzj100]

ARB attachment.

 

[Soju]

I like your mounting location better then mine. Here is mine in transport mode.

ARB attachment.

View attachment 2497552

View attachment 2497553

 

[uzj100]

26 inches

 

[uzj100]

pics

 

[uzj100]

Been really slow since Monday.

 

[uzj100]

22 inches

and ocean art

 

[cruiser4life]

Now that we're done wearing out the whitetails it's time to start scouting for spring fishing and knock the dust off the rods and reels. Recently found some beautiful, new to me smallmouth water and gave it a half assed hour or two without any action but it is on the list for the spring.

The day was saved and avoided getting skunked with a nice brown back at the cabin near dark. Hard to provide perspective on size by myself so decided my size 12 shoe would work before releasing him to hopefully catch him again this spring.